Twelve people from the Jacksonville area are competing in the IDBF World Dragon Boat Racing Championships in Germany from July 14 to 20.
Dragon boat racing, which originated in ancient China, is a “serious, high-performance, competitive sport” with 20 paddlers, a steerer and a drummer to provide the beat to synchronize the paddlers’ strokes, according to the IDBF, or International Dragon Boat Federation, the event’s governing body.
The paddlers “work together to propel the boat forward using a specific stroke technique,” the federation said.
‘Dragon boating is the mass participation paddle sport of today, with an ancient past and a very bright future. … a sport and recreational activity that can be pursued by all, anyone of all abilities and at every level of competition,” according to the federation. “That is the greatness of dragon boating.”
Here are the 12 members of Jacksonville Dragon Boat Club selected for Team USA at the Germany championships:
For more information about the Jacksonville Dragon Boat Club, go to jacksonvilledragonboatclub.com. For more information about the sport or championships, go to the IDBF website at dragonboat.sport or the U.S. Dragon Boat Federation website at usdbf.org/https://www.usdbf.org.
bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: What Jacksonville-area dragon boat racers are on Team USA for the world championships?
Reporting by Beth Reese Cravey, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
